1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to zirconium-base alloys containing transition metal elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Materials having high electrical resistivity (over 200 .mu..OMEGA.-cm) and negative or zero temperature coefficients of resistivity are required for precision resistors, resistance thermometers and the like. High resistivity materials permit fabrication of smaller resistors. Negative temperature coefficients of resistivity provide larger resistance values at lower temperatures, thus increasing the sensitivity of low temperature resistance thermometers. Zero temperature coefficients of resistivity provide stability of resistance with temperature which is required for useful precision resistors. Commonly available alloys such as Constantan (49 .mu..OMEGA.-cm) and Nichrome (100 .mu..OMEGA.-cm) are examples of materials generally employed in these applications.
A number of splat-quenched foils of binary alloys of zirconium and titanium with transition metals such as nickel, copper, cobalt and iron have been disclosed elsewhere; see, e.g. Vol. 4. Metallurgical Transactions, pp. 1785-1790 (1973) (binary Zr-Ni alloys); Izvestia Akadameya Nauk SSSR, Metals, pp. 173-178 (1973) (binary Ti or Zr alloys with Fe, Ni or Cu); and Vol. 2, Scripta Metallurgica, pp. 357-359 (1968) (binary Zr-Ni, Zr-Cu, Zr-Co and Ti-Cu alloys). While metastable, non-crystalline single phase alloys are described in these references, no useful properties of these materials are disclosed or suggested.